El Paso, Texas — A large immigration detention camp in Texas has been closed to visitors and lawyers due… Measles outbreakTuesday, a deputy said.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from El Paso, whose district includes the facility known as Camp East Montana, said there are 14 active cases of measles at the Fort Bliss military base detention center, and 112 people are being isolated. It will remain closed to visitors and lawyers until March 19 or 20.
“While it is good that the measles outbreak is being taken seriously, on the other hand, I am concerned that a preventable crisis has created conditions in which detainees can only contact their lawyers virtually,” Escobar said in a statement.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The camp opened last year After the Trump administration awarded a contract worth up to $1.3 billion to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a Virginia contractor that had not previously operated an ICE facility. The detainees described the camp, where about 3,000 people live on average daily in noisy and unsanitary places, where diseases spread easily, and sleep is considered a luxury.